Evaluation and Quality assurance
Evaluation of School Students
External evaluation and assessment of Schools and Education Systems
We, as the representatives of School Students in Europe, see the necessity of evaluation in order to identify weaknesses and strengths of our schools and education systems as a whole, as well as to monitor the progress, and improve the quality. In order to be able to define quality, high-achieving schools and high quality education we have to focus on inclusiveness, open access, and the flexibility to adapt to School Students’ individual needs. Furthermore, in order to ensure this quality, school systems must be evaluated so that solutions can be found and the appropriate action can be taken. Evaluation and quality assurance must follow the main aim of improving education for the main stakeholders, including School Students and teachers. It should neither be primarily dictated by economic interests, nor by the demands of the labour market. Competition and ranking of schools may lead to a simplification of the situation and may thus set the wrong priorities in the evaluation process. Schools across Europe face different challenges and this must be acknowledged in the evaluation process. Evaluation of education must adapt to every single students need and has to be fair. Education systems have a key role in promoting individual development, so when quality in education is discussed, both personal development and the improvement of the system should be taken into account. We believe that education should also promote the development of social competences and encourage critical thinking.
Evaluation is one of the biggest parts in School Students lives. In order to ensure progress and ascertain that students will gain the required skills, to be able to fully develop at a social, personal and professional way, evaluation should be as objective and broad as possible. Evaluation that takes into consideration more than just the results of tests and gives feedback that is more sophisticated than just grading is one of the key aspects of educating a successful generation. The purpose of evaluation of knowledge should be to provide constructive feedback to the evaluated students. However, we can observe that almost no European country has sufficient implementation of progressive evaluation together with fact-based evaluation; the latter appearing to be the only approach used in secondary schools at the moment. OBESSU recognises that fact-based evaluation can be more objective, measurable and comparable than the progressive evaluation, but it sees that in most educational systems this objectiveness does not take into account many other important aspects such as progress, effort, personal capacities and so on. OBESSU is concerned that fact-based evaluation is only focused on competitiveness between schools and students, which may fuel and amplify social cleavages.
External evaluation on a national and international level concerns School Students and School Student organisations on all levels of education. OBESSU acknowledges the fact that the existence and methods of external evaluation on national level vary greatly between different European countries. External evaluation that examines the knowledge of School Students is sometimes also used for the evaluation of teachers and national educational systems based on School Student outcomes. This might lead to competition among countries, due to the fact that the purposes and aims of the evaluation are not properly set.
OBESSU’s main recommendations are: •
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• that the main goal of education is learning for life, thus the trend of exclusively “teaching that evaluation should be conducted based on to the test” must be avoided since this is improving education for School Students and restricting and takes the focus away from teachers, not primarily based on economic developing School Students’ competences; reasons or interest based on unhealthy • that education has to be based on competition between schools. The purpose of cooperation, however, in order to face modern education goes beyond employability and this society, healthy forms of competition can be should be recognised by all stakeholders; present to further enhance School Students’ that all stakeholders, including School motivation; Students and teachers, must be involved in • to reform evaluation systems using methods every step of the process; by developing the culture of cooperation that quality in terms of personal between schools, teachers and School development, should allow all School Students. Students to set and achieve their own goals, freely decided according to their interests and Our recommendations to European Institutions their capability; are: that all aspects of quality education • that European countries should have a should be taken into consideration and comparable grading system, in order to evaluated where appropriate. This should have fair and equal access to higher and be done continuously, individually and in an further education for all citizens of European improvement-oriented way; countries across Europe. that the objectives of a grading system should be recognised, but we strongly Our recommendations to national decisionsupport alternative forms of evaluation. A makers are: system based on numerical grades should • that evaluation be designed and implemented be supplemented with detailed explanatory with a clear purpose so that data collected can feedback as it is an insufficient system to be analysed and effectively addressed. This fully evaluate School Students performance will ensure quality assurance. and therefore should be improved;
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Guidelines. Education at 360°. Evaluation and quality assurance of Education
Our recommendations to national decision-makers are: • to set up evaluation systems which cover all aspects of the learning process and recognises the skills and competences acquired through non-formal education; • that standardised tests should not be the major method of School Students assessment: there should also be appropriate space and time for individual evaluation; • that other aspects and data is used in order to evaluate school and education system and not only School Students outcome in standardised exams, in order to ease the pressure on school systems and get a broader view on the current state; • to use fact-based evaluation in a broader evaluation framework to avoid social selection; • that students should have the right to not only be evaluated by their own teachers but also by impartial external bodies.
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Our recommendations to teachers are: • to consider evaluation as a tool to identify shortcomings and intervene to support students if necessary; • to involve School Students in their own evaluation, provide students with methods, tools and space both for self- and peerevaluation: this would increase democracy within the evaluation process and develop School Students’ ability to give and receive constructive feedback and support them in understanding their learning process; • to implement a system of continuous evaluation in support of the acquisition of skills and competences and knowledge for lifelong learning; • to take into consideration in the evaluation also students’ effort and progress since this would motivate them in their learning; • to encourage teamwork in class to ensure equality and cooperation between teachers and students; • that teamwork must be considered as a basic skill and therefore should be evaluated.
Guidelines. Education at 360°. Evaluation and quality assurance of Education
OBESSU’s main recommendations are: • that assessment of schools and educational systems on national and international level should not only grade academic skills and have to take creative, social and non-formal skills in account; • that external evaluation on any level is important for all stakeholders if it is orientated to improve the quality of education, • that national and international School Student organisations must be involved in the process of evaluation of educational systems.
Our main recommendations to national decision-makers are: • that educational systems and schools must have concrete tools for analysing and evaluating themselves in a coherent process. Those tools have to be created in cooperation with students, schools and student organisations; • that policies that follow due to the results of international assessment must always be in coherence with the true interest of stakeholders, and not be an answer to the often populist public discourse (e.g. Teaching for tests, short-term policies).
Our main recommendations to European Institutions are: • that the purpose of external evaluation has to focus on analysing the situation and creating plan for taking action, instead of just revising and illustrating the present situation; • to further develop other methods of evaluation than quantitative assessment, and that quantitative assessment should be complemented by qualitative evaluation to provide a more complete assessment and guarantee the involvement of School Students’ interest and the evaluation of their well-being.
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Guidelines. Education at 360°. Evaluation and quality assurance of Education